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The Chicago Cubs are off to perhaps the most pleasantly surprising start of any team in Major League Baseball and they should enjoy it while they can.
As of Tuesday, the team is sitting with a comfortable lead in the National League Central division and a 22-14 record. They’ve enjoyed some surprise contributions from the likes of Carson Kelly and Pete Crow-Armstrong, but the stellar start from Kyle Tucker might have been more widely expected.
After three All-Star seasons in a row with the Houston Astros, Tucker is regarded as one of the best outfielders in the game. And when the Cubs made a blockbuster trade to acquire him this past winter, it was a sign that they were going all in to end a playoff drought.
But this could be their single chance to make a deep run with Tucker, as he faces a highly-lucrative free agency at the end of the season if the team doesn’t sign him to an extension first.
“He is a better player than Vladimir Guerrero Jr., whom the Blue Jays gave $500 million,” according to Jeff Passan of ESPN, who predicted Tucker would earn a $500 million contract as well. “He’ll play all of next year at 29. He’s one of baseball’s best power-speed combinations. Everything is there for Tucker to exceed $400 million.”
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And that type of payday could mean the Cubs ultimately lose him, as MLB insider Jon Heyman announced that kind of price would be out of the team’s range.
“I had a rival executive tell me they got to put $500 million in front of him, they’re not gonna do that, that’s not the Cubs,” Heyman said during a recent appearance on 670 The Score. “But you have to make him a good offer.”
Unfortunately for Cubs fans, a good offer is probably not going to be enough to lock in one of the best players in the sport.
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Peter Chawaga is a veteran journalist covering Major League Baseball for The Sporting News. His MLB reporting has included feature interviews with commissioner Rob Manfred and Hall of Fame slugger David Ortiz, salary analysis, player rankings and more. He has covered baseball for Forbes, Yardbarker, Pitcher List, Athlon and other outlets.
With over ten years of newsroom experience, he has previously covered finance, technology, arts, and culture for newspapers, magazines, and websites nationwide. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in English and journalism.
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